It’s not every day that the Miami Hurricanes enter their home stadium as the underdogs.

For decades, Miami has been a program that has either talked the talk and/or walk the walk. They were either a great team or at least looked the part physically. However, Friday’s 17-9 win over No. 20 Virginia felt like a win for the little guys.

Jimmy Murphy, bringing the TL together as only he can. pic.twitter.com/v5QL7sVLLQ

— Christy Chirinos (@ChristyChirinos) October 12, 2019

Jimmy Murphy tackles the UVA punt returner before he could even think about running with the ball and the crowd goes wild. Listed at 5-7, Murphy is the shortest player on the team and is the only player on the Hurricanes with shoulder pads sticking out of the jersey.

Redshirt sophomore Turner Davidson entered the game as the new place kicker and converts two extra points and his only field goal. It was first collegiate game and it came after sophomore Bubba Baxa spent the entire previous season and the first five games of this season as the primary kicker.

“For Turner Davidson to come in and make the PATs and make that field goal in a very clutch time in the game during the fourth quarter was a huge shot in the arm to our football team,” Miami head coach Diaz said. “So, again, something that all three phases can be very proud of. It’s a very happy locker room right now as you can imagine. Now, we maybe have a little bit of momentum that we can kick on for the rest of our season.”

Davidson’s entrance into his first career collegiate game was a surprise to everyone. Listed at 5-9, 155 lbs, Davidson is the lightest player on the roster. He appeared amongst his teammates on the field like that scrawny college student in the recent NFL Sunday Ticket commercial featuring Patrick Mahomes.

“You know what’s funny? I obviously know who he is, but I didn’t know he was kicking until I got in the locker room,” wide receiver K.J. Osborn said. “I didn’t know. We were in the locker room and coach [Manny] Diaz said, ‘Special teams,’ and then they held up Turner. I looked around and said, ‘What did Turner do?’ And they were like, ‘He was kicking field goals,’ and I was like, ‘Oh.’ I didn’t even know.”

“I don’t either,” Diaz joked. “He just ran on the field during pregame and started knocking some in, and we said, Hey, here we go.”

Davidson said his approach was simply, “Don’t miss.” As simple and dead pan as it sounds, he took it to heart and made every kick.

Diaz said the decision to put Davidson on short field goals and extra points is how he looked during warmups compared to Baxa, who missed four field goals and two extra points this season.

“We let it kind of go down to warm-ups and he just had a better warm-up than Bubba and that doesn’t mean that’s a permanent move or whatever, but we just felt like from a pure evaluating who was making the kicks that he was the guy,” Diaz said. “He was without a doubt the better guy in the warm-up.”

While the big guys usually get the love in Miami, and deservedly so defensively, Friday night’s upset belongs to the little guys.

Google “worst teams NFL” and the Dolphins are the poster child for ignominy.

Peruse any power ranking you choose and Miami’s Bag Heads are DFL — Dead Freakin’ Last.

That’s the model of consistency, an objective every coach preaches, though not in this category.

In this case, with the objective being to win (by losing) the first pick in next year’s draft in order to claim one particular quarterback, paramount futility is a virtue.

But as poorly as the Dolphins played through the first four games of the season — and they are last or second to last in every notable statistical category — it isn’t all open water to the island of Tua.

Crowded at bottom of NFL

There are a surprising number of dreadful teams this season and one of the most dysfunctional, the Washington Redskins, will visit Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday for the first in a series of Battle of the Bads that have more at stake for the future than the present.

The Dolphins also play the currently winless Jets (twice) and Bengals. With the likes of the 1-4 Steelers and 2-3 Giants and some other middle-of-the-pack suspects also on the schedule, Miami just might slip up and win a couple games.

That could be a nightmare scenario for Dolfans. Once you’ve accepted the season as a write-off in the interest of a brighter future, it doesn’t pay to be second-worst.

Even though the front office sabotaged the season, the players are trying to win and protect their livelihoods. And this upcoming opponent is awash in problems of its own.

The Redskins, after falling to 0-5 with Sunday’s 33-7 thrashing at home by the Patriots, fired coach Jay Gruden at 5 a.m. on Monday.

The Redskins have every reason to feel unloved. Their fans have tuned out on the team and the season and were greatly outnumbered by those cheering for the Patriots at FedEx Field.

Even Tom Brady said, “That was ridiculous. … That felt like a home game.”

Or like the Patriots’ recent visit to Miami Gardens.

Redskins a mess too

The Redskins will arrive with an interim coach, Bill Callahan, who hasn’t decided who will start at quarterback but has already said he plans to shift from a pass-happy offense to an old-school run-first approach.

Even with all of that, the 0-4 Dolphins, coming off a bye, are 3 ½-point ’dogs at home.

There is some comfort in that for Dolphins fans with the overriding objective in mind.

Also in knowing that teams often perk up after an in-season coaching change. Remember, when Dan Campbell took over the Dolphins after a 1-3 start under Joe Philbin they responded with resounding wins over the Titans and Texans.

Granted, not all of the NFL doormats are looking for a building-block quarterback. The Jets think they have one in Sam Darnold. The Redskins took Dwayne Haskins at No. 15 this year, though they haven’t started him yet.

But that doesn’t preclude a team from picking a quarterback in the first round one year and again the next, as the Cardinals showed in taking Kyler Murray first overall after a brief stint with Josh Rosen.

And there are always teams eager to trade to the top spot if as particular quarterback is regarded as something special, which is the consensus on Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa.

Dolphins need every draft pick

No team is better positioned to trade up if needed with three first-round picks in 2020. But the idea is to use all of them to fill needs, not deal them.

The only way to ensure winning the Tua sweepstakes is to just lose, baby.

Tearing a team down to the bare wood like the Dolphins did is a chancy undertaking. It’s good to have a lot of draft picks, especially in the top three rounds. But then you have to make choices that yield productive pro players and mesh with the core you’re building.

Draft history has shown there’s no guarantee in this process. And no certainty of speeding up the time line.

There’s no better example than the current Cleveland Browns, who were hyped as ready to jell this season but so far look no better than average.

As miserable as it has been to watch the Dolphins blunder week after week — not only this season but often over the past two decades — Dolfans deserve to get their wish. They have waited so long for a quarterback to excite them.

I don’t blame them for selling their allegiance for a season of losing — consistently. So I hope they get Tua.

Then they just have to hope he really is the answer to their prayers.

Craig Davis has covered South Florida sports and teams, including the Dolphins, for four decades. Follow him on Twitter @CraigDavisRuns

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Miami Heat basketball is (technically) back!

The real games don’t start for another two weeks, but the tune-up circuit will have to do for now.

For the first time in what feels like forever, there’s genuine excitement surrounding this team. Having a top-15 player headlining the roster will do that for you. Combine that star power with a semi-open field in the East, and there’s room for hope.

(How reasonable that hope is, however, is a discussion for another day. Or preview. Definitely a preview.)

I won’t bore you with the generic “don’t overreact to the preseason” spiel. I’m going to assume we all know that, like Summer League play, process matters more than results. We’re looking for trends that could carry over into the reg-

Oh, I’m doing it anyway. In short: watch the games and take the box scores with quite a few grains of salt.

Of course, you should not expect flawless basketball. Guys are working themselves into regular season shape; coaches will be trying out combos that’ll never see the light of day in November, much less April. In light of that reality, I’ve come up with a guide that’ll help you weed through the inevitable noise.

Big Picture

 

Who’s starting at point guard?

Blah, blah, positions don’t matter. That’s true in a general sense, but the Heat’s most important positional battle involves Justise Winslow and Goran Dragic. 

Dragic is the wily vet with a couple of fringe All-Star-caliber seasons (and an actual appearance) under his belt. He’s been the head of the snake before. and gives the offense a much-needed punch with his elbow-swinging forays to the basket.

Dragic saw some natural slippage last season, but still grades out as a good finisher and respectable pull-up threat. For a Heat offense that has struggled for most of the post-LeBron era, having as many three-level scoring threats on the floor as possible seems important.

Then there’s Winslow, a 6’7* playmaker that can get to the rim on a whim and fire skips all over the floor. He plays a more deliberate style than Dragic, but it works; he enhances the shot quality of his teammates because of his ability to manipulate defenses. Kind reminder: the flashes have been there since Year 2. 

Winslow is still adding the intermediate area to his repertoire. He tinkered with some floaters and pull-up jimmies last season, particularly in the second half. He wasn’t great in either aspect, ranking in the 33rd percentile on runners and the 22nd percentile on off-the-dribble jumpers, via Synergy. But his willingness to take those shots represent a potential watershed moment in his young career.

If we’re being honest, Winslow should win the starting job. He’s arguably the best passer on the team, and his improved spot-up shooting makes him an ideal secondary option to Jimmy Butler. Defensively, Winslow can get back to his guard-hounding roots, the skill that made him stand out as a rookie. Having Winslow defend at the point of attack is quite the difference from the much smaller, slower, and less instinctual Dragic.  

At this stage of Dragic’s career, the Heat should prioritize saving him during the 82-game marathon. Allowing him to punch well above his weight against second units would maximize the value of both parties. 

But hey, we’ll see.

Who’s starting alongside Bam Adebayo?

Hassan Whiteside is gone. The starting center job fully belongs to Bam Adebayo. On balance, that is a very good thing!

Handing the reigns to Adebayo was the right move. His rim-diving, high-post passing, and chameleon-like versatility on defense make him one of the NBA’s most intriguing young guys. The next step for the Heat is deciding what his ideal front-court partner looks like.

While one could argue that Adebayo is an upgrade from Whiteside, there is reason for mild concern. Adebayo is 6’9 on a good day. As well as he moves on the floor, he isn’t the rim protector or rebounder that Whiteside was in Miami. The size element complicates the frontcourt pairing question. This is in addition to Adebayo needing a spacer to complement his rim-rolling ability.

The natural answer to this question is Kelly Olynyk. The Adebayo-Olynyk pairing posted a plus-4.9 net rating in 1,048 minutes last season. Of course, Olynyk is currently on the mend with a knee injury. A number that matters more now: their 50.6 rebounding percentage when sharing the court together. For comparison’s sake, the Whiteside-Olynyk was also a success (plus-3.5 net rating) while rebounding at a much higher rate (53.4).

On paper, newbie and Heat Twitter folk hero Meyers Leonard makes more sense. He’s a bit bigger than Olynyk, is a better outside shooter (career 38.5 percent from deep), is a slightly better rebounder (career 13.2 rebounding rate vs Olynyk’s 12.5).

One issue there is that Leonard doesn’t have a real track record for three-point volume. He’s only logged one season averaging more than 3.0 three-point attempts per game; Olynyk averages that many attempts for his career. And as lead-footed as Olynk is defensively, he at least knows where to be defensively and adds some value as a charge magnet. I … will just say the same can’t be said for Leonard at this stage.

Starting either James Johnson or Derrick Jones Jr. at the 4 would allow the Heat to be switch-y or blitz-heavy, but there are obvious spacing questions on the other end. The idea of Adebayo and Jones Jr. just bludgeoning teams on the offensive glass is intriguing until they face the Pistons (Blake Griffin and Andre Drummond) or the Nuggets (Paul Millsap and Nikola Jokic).

We’re going to find out a lot about the Heat’s thinking over the next couple of weeks.

Tyler Herro’s Next Challenge

Four things can be true at once.

1. I was not a fan of the Herro pick on draft night.
2. Herro has much more in his offensive bag than I gave him credit for, and made plenty of flash plays in Summer League.
3. The questions that made me dislike the Herro pick are still there.
4. An ideal starting lineup, to me, involves Herro at the 2 alongside Winslow, Butler, whoever-is-at-the-4, and Adebayo

Herro looked at home as a pick-and-roll initiator, especially when he was able to get a head start. That, plus his ability to stop on a dime and pull-up, are skills that should translate. Creating space is going to be the swing skill for him offensively; attacking those crevices is what will open up the plus-passing vision and shooting versatility. 

Here’s the thing: the level of athleticism is about to improve again. I understand how cliche that sounds, but it’s an important thing to note. Even though Herro played well this summer, he still struggled to create without help. 

He’s going to face more tenacious on-ball defenders and more athletic rim protectors moving forward. Those shot/pass windows are going to close faster. How quickly he can adjust will go a long way towards determining how high up on the depth chart he should be when the season starts.

While We’re At It…

 

Can Derrick Jones Jr. dribble yet?

That sounds more harsh than I intend it to, but this is the swing-skill for him. We know he can finish any dunk or lob attempt within a six-mile radius. He’s proven that his outlier leaping ability makes him a functional threat as an offensive rebounder. Giving him a launching pad is akin to giving peak Jerome Bettis a one-on-one with a slot corner.

The corner three is coming (36.8 percent via Basketball-Reference), and Jones’ defense has improved. He skies for weakside blocks, and did a much better job of navigating screens and bothering ball-handlers with his length.

If the jumper is as real as he says it is, teams will stop ignoring him from deep. That’s great news — unless he doesn’t have the ball-handling chops to pump, drive, then elevate (or flip the ball ahead, but we’re working with baby steps here). I lost count of the out-of-control drives and (uncalled) travels from last season. There may or may not have been James Ennis comparisons dropped on my timeline.

It is way too early to give up on Jones Jr; the Suns learned that the hard way. The fact that there’s a path to him being a consistent rotation piece is a testament to his work ethic. But man, he has to be able to dribble and run at the same time to take the next step.

What does the Dion Waiters-Jimmy Butler partnership look like?

Best believe I’m going to be paying attention to who ends possessions when these two share the court together. Ideally, this could be the Dragic-Waiters circa 2017 duo on steroids. Of course, there’s also the chance that we get a viral video of Waiters waiving for the ball while Butler does his mid-range dance.

When will we see James Johnson?

No, seriously, what the heck is his body fat percentage at this point?

Are we sleeping on Kendrick Nunn?

Lost in #HerroMania this summer was the play of Kendrick Nunn, easily the Heat’s best player during the July circuit. He earned All-Summer League honors with offensive exploits and tenacious on-ball defense. He grew as a passer out of pick-and-roll, and showcased a new confidence in his pull-up triple.

I’m interested to see just how much of a shot the Heat give him. It’s clear that they like him a great deal. If the pull-up jimmy is here to stay, there’s some real equity here for Nunn as the third point guard … or more, if .. certain players become available.

 

Nekias Duncan (@NekiasNBA) writes for a number of outlets about the Heat and NBA, including Bleacher Report, and will be contributing regularly for Five Reasons Sports.